Chaos (12 page)

Shane tightened his arms. “I will. God, I wish this promise
wasn’t necessary but I’m afraid I’ll have to make that call. Why can’t we all
be as cool with this as Max is?”

“Because Max is truly the most spectacularly amazing
individual that ever was. I know he told me that he’s had lots of fun and I
shouldn’t be sad for him but I can’t help it.” She was almost sobbing. “Where
did he hear that?”

“Jordan swears he came up with it on his own.” Shane didn’t
hide his tears from her. “His parents are equally amazing too, with the way
they accept the situation.”

“Maybe but I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for
them. And your buddy Penny too. It’s so obvious the way she worships her big
brother.”

“No more than he worships her. Their dad was telling me how
fascinated he was with her from the moment she was born. I wish all kids were
like they are. I know their parents have a lot to do with that. They’re just
great. They’ve always both worked but they still manage to spend time with
those kids every day. It can’t have been easy when Max was diagnosed but they
went ahead and had a second child anyway.”

“Kiley says they told her they’re positive that meeting
Jordan extended his life. I can see why too. The first few times she mentioned
Bear I expected some huge beast. The day she took me to the park to meet them I
couldn’t believe he was just an oversized ball of fluff.”

“As you can guess, Jordan let Max name him. He does look a
little like a bear cub.”

“I expected him at the wedding too.”

“Max’s parents overruled that idea. Jordan was willing and
Kiley would have gone along with it but his dad explained how Max would be too
busy with his best man duties to keep track of Bear.”

“Can you imagine how spoiled Kiley and Jordan’s kids are
going to be?”

“Maybe not. I know Jordan always makes Max eat some fruit
before he has cookies—a good idea that you may want to remember, by the way—so
he hasn’t completely lost all his senses. He’d better not either. Spoiling
their kids is our job.”

“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I can see it now. Uncle
Shane sneaking off with the kids for an ice cream before dinner. That’s too
unrealistic to consider.”

“Hey! I almost resent that attitude of yours. I’ll have you
know that I took cookies for Penny’s class when I went to visit them last
week.”

“Really? You’re just full of surprises, McKade. Let’s go
find dinner and we’ll see how indulgent you can be with me.”

“When it comes to food, Campini, you are plenty indulgent
for both of us. I’m only thinking of you. And even you must admit that I’ve
been very unstructured when it comes to everything else.”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on. We’ll eat and then we’ll see what you
can come up with to compensate for the vegetables I just know you’re going to
force me to eat.”

Brett waited for the explosion that he saw brewing in
Shane’s mind. The longer the silence stretched the more he wondered if he
should have listened to Alyssa when she cautioned him against discussing her
with Shane. She was right. This really was a bad idea that he’d had.

Shane finally unclenched his jaw. “Brett, I’m sure you think
you know what you’re doing but I’m not going to discuss this with you.”

“Shane, listen, I don’t mean to pry and I’m certainly not
fishing for details. I’m only suggesting that you consider the possibility that
there might be something more going on between the two of you than merely fun.”

“You are so lucky that I think of you as my kid brother
right now. That may be the only thing keeping you intact at the moment. Let me
repeat, for the last time, my relationship with Campini is not open for debate.
You may have seen us handcuffed that morning and you may know there’s a story
behind her costume when she met you at the bar. That gives you the right to
torment me the rest of my life but it does not give you free rein to interfere
in anything else that may or may not be going on here. Do you understand?”

“I’d say you’ve made yourself perfectly clear.” Brett managed
to hide his grin. Shane was protesting too vehemently for him not to have
strong feelings for her. These next few months were going to be pure hell for
him, since he was going to both worry about her and do everything he could to
deny it to himself. He would need to go out of his way to keep Shane from
brooding while she was gone without letting him figure it out. Maybe he’d
enlist Jesse’s help since he and Shane seemed to connect so well. Man, they
were all in for a rough couple of months. Hopefully, Alyssa would be back
sooner than she anticipated. Brett was pulled from his thoughts by Shane’s
phone.

“McKade.” He answered gruffly, still glaring at Brett.

“Hey. It’s me.” This time the voice wasn’t disguised.

“Hi, Kid. How’s it going?”

“Okay.”

Shane waited, silently willing the gang kid Alyssa had
befriended to ask for his help. “You sure?”

“Yeah. I was just wondering something.”

“Wondering what?”

“You gonna see her before she goes?”

“I am. Dinner tonight and I’m driving her to the airport
tomorrow. Want to come with us?”

“No way. You’re fucking with me.”

“I assure you that I’m not. My offer is real and there are
no strings attached. She’s mentioned you and I know she wants to cross paths
with you again. You’re more than welcome to come with us for either or both.”

His statements were met with silence. “I can’t do that.” The
Kid sounded upset.

“You can if you choose to. You can still walk away. I’ll
help you. Campini will help you. You can trust us.”

“She’s leaving.”

“She’ll be back. And I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’ll turn me in.”

“No. You have my word. I’ll find a way to make you safe.
I’ll find you somewhere away from here where you can have a different life. The
kind of life you should have had all along. The kind of life that Campini and I
want you to have. Come with us. All you have to do is say you want to and I’ll
get you out of there.”

“I gotta go. Just tell her to stay alive, okay?”

“I will but I know she’d rather hear you say it.”

“I can’t!”

“Then I’ll have to tell you what I know she would say if you
gave her the chance. You want her to stay alive? Well she’d insist that you do
the same.”

“You got a little sumpin’ sumpin’ goin’ on with her? You
better not be playing her!”

“I’d never play her, Kid. That pixie is one very special
lady and I only want the best for her.”

“You’re doin’ her.”

“You’re right. We are together, or should I say that we’re
together for now. She’s leaving tomorrow and I honestly don’t know if she’ll
want to hook up again when she gets back.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, I do. She’s something, isn’t she? I sure hope I don’t
get replaced while she’s gone.”

“You say that to her?”

“Not directly. You think I should?”

“You want her to come back, you gotta tell her.”

“All right, I will. You could call her and put in a good
word for me. She likes you so she might listen.”

“She’s giving you a hard time.” He choked out a laugh. “She
gave me one too. I figure that’s her way of liking us without going all mushy.
Just tell her for me. I gotta go.”

Shane closed his phone and let the Kid’s words roll around
in his head. “What the hell am I going to do now, Brett?” he asked morosely.

“I take it that call was from Alyssa’s gang kid. You going
to try to deny that you meant what you said to him?”

“No.”

“Damn, I wish he’d called you half an hour ago. You might
not have been so tough on me for saying basically the same things to you.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have overreacted on you like I did.
I guess you’re both right. I don’t know if I can handle this.”

“I think it’s too late, Shane. I also think you should take
the Kid’s advice and tell her you’ll be waiting when she gets back. Why didn’t
he call her?”

“I’m not sure unless he’s afraid to get too close to her.
She gave him my number and told him to call me if he ever needed help back when
I was trying to get her to stay away from them.” Shane paused, looking steadily
at him. “I’m going to tell you something that you can’t repeat. Two months ago,
I started getting tips about upcoming activities. I had no idea who it was
until Campini was talking about the Kid. Then I began to suspect it was him but
today is the first time he didn’t try to hide it.”

“You exchanged words in person last week. Maybe he figures
you already know he’s the one who called you. What are you going to tell
Alyssa?”

“Just that he called and asked me to tell her to stay alive
and that I was sure she’d ask the same of him. She doesn’t know he’s been
feeding me information and I don’t want her to. I’m not going to mention that I
tried to get him to ask for help either. I think it would upset her.”

“I think it would more than upset her and I don’t think she
needs to know just yet. You can tell her when he gives in and lets you get him
out of there. And now, as much as I hate to leave this conversation in the
middle, I need to get back to work.”

“That’s fine since I’m sure we’ll have it again. Any chance
of you dropping me back at the station? I let Campini use my truck today for
last minute errands.” When Brett raised an eyebrow, Shane continued, “If you
promise to keep your mouth shut, I’ll invite you over for dinner tonight.
Jesse’s coming and I thought we could have a little good luck celebration for
her.”

“Gee, Shane, that sounds suspiciously like you’re afraid to
spend the entire evening saying goodbye to her.”

“This time you really are wrong. We’re dropping some
pictures off with Max on the way home and I thought you guys could help cheer
her up. This could very well be the last time she sees him and she’s already
made me promise to call her if he dies while she’s away. Brett, I get the
impression that Campini doesn’t invite people to get close to her and I know
she likes you guys. I feel like I should make her know that she will be missed
while she’s gone. I mean missed by someone other than Kiley. We ate at Mr.
Paul’s last night so she could see Dee and I know she called those friends that
Kiley invited to the wedding but I think that’s it.”

“See? I knew you cared more than you were letting show.”

“Yeah and I’d like to remind you that we’re still not
discussing this. Take me back to work and get to your meeting. I’m sure you
have a lot to do so you can get everything here wrapped up as soon as possible.
I know you don’t really have time to obsess about me like this.” This time,
Brett let himself laugh and was rewarded when Shane joined in.

* * * * *

“You guys should have seen the look in Penny’s eyes when I
gave her the picture of her and Shane.” Alyssa giggled. “I think she’s in
love!”

“Too bad she’s only twenty years too young for him,” Brett
teased. “Or maybe not. You’d have competition then, Lyssa.”

“Gee and I actually thought I was going to miss you, Brett.”

“Ouch, that hurt.” He tried to look wounded.

“Watch it. She bites when she gets really mad,” Shane added
from across the room.

“McKade,” she growled.

“I think you should both shut up now,” Jesse advised
seriously.

“Thank you, Jesse. It’s nice to know someone here isn’t a
typical male.”

“I assure you that I’m all male and I’d be more than happy
to prove it if you’d only get rid of Shane. But please, can you wait until
after we eat? I’m hungry and whatever he’s cooking smells really good.”

They laughed as she glared at him. “You’re as bad as they
are. McKade, why did you invite them to have dinner with us tonight? Is this
some sort of weird attempt to make me see that there are worse things than
being sucked up in a tornado?”

“Aw, poor Pix.” Shane moved behind her and kissed the top of
her head. “They’re just teasing you because they’re jealous that you let your
good taste show and picked me.” When she didn’t comment, he added, “And I hate
to break it to you but you simply can’t be the first to photograph the inside
of a tornado.”

“What makes you say that? I mean besides the promise I made
to Kiley.”

“I had a call today from a friend of yours. He asked me to
tell you to stay alive for him and somehow I don’t think you would if you ended
up on the inside.”

“Who?”

“Your buddy, the Kid. I said I’d pass on his message and I
told him that you’d want me to say the same to him.”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. Brett can vouch for me. He was there when I got
the call.”

She switched her questioning gaze to Brett. “It’s true. I
heard Shane say it.”

“Do you think this means he’s ready to get out?” She sounded
so hopeful.

“Maybe but don’t read too much into it, Campini. It’s one
thing to hope you avoid getting killed but it’s entirely another to trust
someone you don’t know with your life. I bet you’re the closest thing he has to
a real friend who cares about him without wanting something in return. It
doesn’t mean that he’s ready to give up the life he knows.”

“I know but I can hope, can’t I?”

“Of course you can but Shane’s right,” Jesse spoke up.
“Don’t build this up to more than it is. He could go out tomorrow and take his
initiation and that could be the last you ever hear of him.”

“I know. It’s just that he seemed like he was a decent kid
when he was alone with me.”

“What did he tell you about himself?” Jesse asked,
innocently enough to be making idle conversation but Shane wondered if there
wasn’t more to it as Alyssa told him everything she knew about the Kid.

“Too bad he didn’t give you his name,” Jesse commented when
she was done. “Shane could check his story for you if he had. He might be a
runaway who’s lying and has perfectly average, extremely worried parents.”

“I don’t think so. You didn’t see his face when he was
talking about them. He was struggling to sound like it didn’t matter, that he
was too tough to be bothered by the lack of concern they had for him. He wanted
to seem so grown up and okay with being on his own.” Shane sensed she was
thinking of her own childhood. His was so much worse but she could still relate
to some of what he was feeling. “McKade, do you think he’ll call you again?
Will you try to get him to talk if he does?”

“I fully expect to hear from him with questions about you.
Don’t worry, Pix, I’ll see what I can find out without scaring him off. Just
try not to set yourself up to be disappointed. He may have acted tough with you
but I wouldn’t think he can when he’s with his current buddies. He is, after
all, low man on the totem pole. They could turn on him just as quickly as their
rivals would.”

“Then I guess I’ll just have faith in him to make the tough
choice instead of the easy one. I wish I had time to go see him before I had to
leave.”

Jesse frowned, drawing her attention. “That would be a
really bad idea. You were tolerated when you were working on your project
because of their egos. They wanted to see themselves in that book. It was their
way of being immortalized. Your presence now would be viewed as interference
and not trusted. If you showed up to talk to him, your caring could get the Kid
killed.”

“Why do I get the impression that you’re speaking as an
expert, not just someone with a theory?” Alyssa’s question was answered with a
steady stare. “All right then, McKade, I guess it’s up to you.”

“I’ll do what I can,” he promised solemnly. “You just make
sure you stay alive like he asked you to. I think this is ready if you want to
grab some plates.”

Over dinner, they all tried to recreate the teasing mood
from the beginning of the evening. All too soon, they realized that it was late
and time to call an end to their visit.

At the door, Brett claimed Alyssa for a hug. “Stay safe,
Lyss. You have my number so I expect to hear from you. I’ll give Kiley a hug
for you.” He kissed her cheek and whispered, “And don’t worry about Shane.
We’ll keep him busy while you’re gone and make sure we’re available to listen
if he needs us. He may not know how to say it but I know he cares.”

“Whatever you say, Brett.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t make
yourself crazy working too hard. If it gets too bad, tell the ad agency you’re
done and walk out.”

“Yes ma’am.” He gave her a mock salute as he handed her an
envelope that he pulled from his jacket. “Don’t open this until you check into
your first motel room.”

Alyssa agreed as he turned her over to Jesse. “Here,” he
said, slipping one of his cards in her hand. “If you get stranded, call. I
might know someone who’s close by who could help you out.”